Richard Mille RM 027 Watch Rafael Nadal

So while Nadal wearing the watch while playing tennis is impressive from a performance standpoint - meaning it doesn't affect his game, it is also sort of a big "F you" to most of the viewers. Professional athletes are kind of supposed to be role models and heroes to some people. We don't idolize gladiators who cut off a lot of heads any more, but we do look up to people of peak physical condition who have cool action skills of other sorts. Kids (at least) are supposed to look up to them, and imagine that they can be like them. Lots of pro athletes didn't come from privileged backgrounds. So what does it say when Mr. Nadal wears a watch that costs more than what most people watching him play, make in 10 years of work? I'm just saying. What is a fun game of "check out where I got my watches placed" among luxury watch brand biggies, might have unforeseen lash-back affects to the entire luxury industry. Then again, it might be an indicator that pro tennis players make "that much." But of course in this case, Nadal didn't pay a penny for the watch. In fact, he is likely paid to strut around with an over half million dollar timepiece.A bunch of you e-mailed me yesterday asking me to talk about the Richard Mille watch that tennis player Rafael Nadal is now wearing. That's never happened before - but since the mainstream media is all over the "weird" story, I figured I should mention that I did cover the topic on Luxist.com (where I also write daily) - sorry, you need to cover two websites now. You can see my (and only my) daily Luxist.com articles right here. I initially discussed the Richard Mille RM027 Nadal watch here.The media is all over the Nadal story for two reasons. First, it is unusual for a tennis player to wear a watch during matches. It is well known that wearing a watch when peak agility and performance is required is usually a bad idea. Hell, I even take my watch off to type. Second, the watch costs $525,000. To most people, that concept blows their friggin' minds. It would blow my mind as well if I wasn't so detached from prices. I actually found myself yesterday saying to a friend about a certain watch: "$300,000? Naw, only like $100,000 - $200,000. It isn't too bad." At this point the prices are just numbers to me. If you can afford them, you can afford them. Anyway, over $500,000 for a watch is pretty crazy - crazy but fun. It isn't about being worth it or not, it is just a matter that an object (that isn't a bag o' diamonds) which fits in your wrist costs as much as a decent house.